findingmontauk1's review
4.0
Collision is a group of dark, thought-provoking, and wonderfully told strange and speculative fiction short stories. Each story is so different and they drew me in with their oddities and prose. My favorite story is of the no-armed pianist that opened the collection and really made me scratch my head. I knew from that first story that this was going to be quite the interesting, original, and weird read! Breukelaar writes with such a mesmerizing style in dream-like stories. This is definitely a collection that will make you think!
Thank you to Meerkat Press for sending me this copy to read and review as part of the blog tour for the book.
Thank you to Meerkat Press for sending me this copy to read and review as part of the blog tour for the book.
exorcismofemilyreed's review
4.0
"What entranced him about earth were its shenanigans."
Collision was my introduction to JS Breukelaar, and this was such a fun set of stories. They are all so strange, and there's a really good variety here. Breukelaar is so creative, and I enjoyed seeing what each story was going to bring.
There are eleven stories in this collection, and they all offer something different. Some are heavier on horror, some are heavier on sci-fi, and some are just downright weird. Every story in Collision received a positive rating from me, so there aren't any bad stories here. This collection also has many LGBTQ+ characters, and I enjoyed the variety of relationships throughout the stories.
My top three stories in this collection are The Box, Collision, and Like Ripples on a Blank Shore. I was fascinated by the stories for these three, and I would absolutely love to read a full-length novel about any of these. Many of the stories in Collision are haunting, and I've thought about quite a few of them since I finished the book.
I feel like some of the stories went a little bit over my head. Breukelaar's writing has a dreamy quality, and I wasn't always entirely sure what happened (this didn't lessen my enjoyment of the stories, though). I was talking to my friend Audra about it, and she compared the dream-like stories to Stephen Graham Jones, which made total sense to me. There aren't full answers for everything, but I think there's still enough to draw your own conclusions and get the main points.
Breukelaar adds a really nice touch to this collection - she adds a short author's note at the end of each story about her ideas for the stories or any other necessary information. I thought it was really cool to get to see into her head for a bit.
If you love weird stories, I highly recommend picking up Collision. It was an entertaining read, and I'm glad I had the chance to check it out. Thank you to Meerkat Press for sending me a copy. Collision will be out on 2/19!
Collision was my introduction to JS Breukelaar, and this was such a fun set of stories. They are all so strange, and there's a really good variety here. Breukelaar is so creative, and I enjoyed seeing what each story was going to bring.
There are eleven stories in this collection, and they all offer something different. Some are heavier on horror, some are heavier on sci-fi, and some are just downright weird. Every story in Collision received a positive rating from me, so there aren't any bad stories here. This collection also has many LGBTQ+ characters, and I enjoyed the variety of relationships throughout the stories.
My top three stories in this collection are The Box, Collision, and Like Ripples on a Blank Shore. I was fascinated by the stories for these three, and I would absolutely love to read a full-length novel about any of these. Many of the stories in Collision are haunting, and I've thought about quite a few of them since I finished the book.
I feel like some of the stories went a little bit over my head. Breukelaar's writing has a dreamy quality, and I wasn't always entirely sure what happened (this didn't lessen my enjoyment of the stories, though). I was talking to my friend Audra about it, and she compared the dream-like stories to Stephen Graham Jones, which made total sense to me. There aren't full answers for everything, but I think there's still enough to draw your own conclusions and get the main points.
Breukelaar adds a really nice touch to this collection - she adds a short author's note at the end of each story about her ideas for the stories or any other necessary information. I thought it was really cool to get to see into her head for a bit.
If you love weird stories, I highly recommend picking up Collision. It was an entertaining read, and I'm glad I had the chance to check it out. Thank you to Meerkat Press for sending me a copy. Collision will be out on 2/19!
kingweirdo's review
4.0
Singularly odd and thought-provoking. Deftly moves between genres, while maintaining enough stylistic unity to keep the stories in the same universe.
The only reason it didn't get five stars was the inclusion of the story Glow, which seemed both on-the-nose and ill-advised.
The only reason it didn't get five stars was the inclusion of the story Glow, which seemed both on-the-nose and ill-advised.
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